26 | MAY 26 • 2022 

F

ew experiences are more disheart-
ening for a newly minted Jewish 
college student or young profes-
sional than an encounter with anti-Jewish 
bigotry, which is spreading and becoming 
more vicious and prominent on campuses 
and in media, especially social media.
As part of a year-long effort to con-
front antisemitism — often masquer-
ading as anti-Zionism or opposition to 
Israel or social activism on behalf of the 
Palestinian cause — the leadership of 
Temple Israel of West Bloomfield con-
cluded the issue had become so urgent it 
deserved a bold response. 
An initial salvo was unleashed on May 
16 at an outdoor presentation by Noa 
Tishby, a strident and engaging Israeli-
born actor, producer, writer and passion-
ate defender of her homeland.
Tishby, author of A Simple Guide To The 
Most Misunderstood Country On Earth, urged 
Temple Israel members and American 
Jews to “wake up and learn history and 
facts about Israel and use them to counter 
the way Israel is being distorted and por-

trayed and lied about around the world.” 
 The synagogue has purchased nearly 
200 of Tishby’s books for religious school 
and college students.
Without understanding who we are and 
where we came from, Tishby has written, 
the Jewish people have no hope of one 
day resolving the Middle East’s troubles. 
All the while, Israel’s existence and Jewish 
identity are being delegitimized and 
undermined in the court of public opin-
ion.
Jewish college students are particularly 
vulnerable to anti-Zionist propaganda 
because many see themselves as sympa-
thetic to causes that benefit the forgotten 
and mistreated. To hear from pro-Pales-
tinian groups that Israel, a country Jewish 
youngsters are taught to love and revere, 
supposedly oppresses Palestinians is 
demoralizing.
For the moment, she asserts, American 
Jews — especially the young — aren’t 
aware how Israel is being successfully 
demonized by opponents who inaccurate-
ly (not to mention, scurrilously) accuse 

the country of ethnic cleansing, apartheid, 
human rights violations, war crimes and 
other egregious misbehavior. Her book, 
she says, is an effort to awaken Jews and 
supporters of Israel and to inspire them 
to fight against hatred and lies with facts, 
knowledge and insight.
“Why aren’t we pointing out that Israeli 
Arabs enjoy all the same rights as Jews, 
that they have a political party which is 
part of the government, that two Supreme 
Court justices are Arabs?” she asks rhe-
torically. “
Are we telling people that most 
of the Palestinians of the West Bank rule 
themselves, that 89% of Israel’s Arabs say 
they don’t want to live in a Palestinian 
state?”
Tishby, 44, harbors special contempt 
for the “Boycott, Divestment, Sanction” 
(BDS) movement, a global effort to 
penalize and cripple Israel’s business and 
economy toward the seemingly virtuous 
goal of “justice” for the Palestinian people. 
BDS has been promoted and approved 
by numerous individuals and groups in 
the U.S., including the Harvard Crimson
newspaper and U.S. Rep. Rashida Tlaib 
(D-13th District), who is up for re-elec-
tion this fall.
“BDS represents itself only as a move-
ment for justice,” she says. “It never talks 
about radical Islam, terrorism or the 
UN-granted right of the Jews to inhabit 
their land. Mentioning this would turn off 
the young liberal Americans the move-

A Voice for Israel

OUR COMMUNITY

Cantor Michael 
Smolash, Rabbi Marla 
Hornsten and Noa 
Tishby

Israeli envoy Noa Tishby shared her story 
of defending her homeland with Temple Israel.

DORON LEVIN CONTRIBUTING WRITER

PHOTOS BY ALEC COHEN

